No, You Can't Have Your Own Truth.

My friend,

We live in a time where The Truth is under attack. A time where the world thinks the truth is for sale, that the truth is "relative" (no absolute truths), where people are really big on proclaiming that they live by "their truth" and that you should live by "your truth". From a secular perspective, it may seem appealing but is it really truth and where does it end?

The truth always leads us somewhere and it should bring about lasting change and boundaries to live by but I'm not convinced that the world's "truth" is really the truth.

The truth today it's less about truth and more about people thinking their opinion is the truth no matter how untrue and baseless what they are saying is.

In "living their truth" it often seems like they are trying to somehow justify a ton of sinful behaviors, push baseless claims, and again to push an opinion which doesn't really equate to "truth". Basically, it's a "leave me alone with "my truth (opinions)" and "however I want to live my life no matter what" viewpoint.

To be 100% clear, while we all have opinions, there is no your truth, my truth, or their truth. There are only opinions and The Truth and The Truth will set you free, not keep you in bondage.

Furthermore, you can try to live "your truth" and they can try to live "their truth" but in the end, it will lead to destruction because it's not The Truth.

Let me remind and encourage you that as followers of Christ, we are to live by God's Truth which is The Truth and as we do, we are also to speak The Truth in love.

As we pursue The Truth, let me also encourage you to make sure that in sharing your opinions and taking in other opinions, to pray and then check it against the lens of Truth which is God's Word, before you communicate it or take in the opinions of others.

May we make it our prayer that we would be led by and live by God's Truth through The Holy Spirit always in Jesus’ name and may we never be swayed by or buy into "truth" of this world.

You're in my prayers.

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Randolph Koch

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A Clean Slate

Read and Study Psalm 103:11-12

If you are in Christ, you need to remember that your Heavenly Father has given you a clean slate.
 As a part of this clean slate, He does not hold your sins against you.

I have to ask though, since He doesn't hold your sins and past against you, why do you hold on to them or hold on to your past sometimes?

Friend, It's times to really walk in the new life He's given you.

As part of this, if you're holding on to things, remember that you've experienced His forgiveness and you need to lay it all down at His feet. 

You also need to forgive yourself as He's already forgiven you!

You are completely forgiven!

I have to ask though, since He doesn't hold your sins and past against you, why do you hold on to them or hold on to your past sometimes?

Friend, It's times to really walk in the new life He's given you.

As part of this, if you're holding on to things, remember that you've experienced His forgiveness and you need to lay it all down at His feet. You also need to forgive yourself as He's already forgiven you!

I pray that you take these truths to heart in Jesus name. 


Your Brother and Servant in Christ,

Randolph Koch 

Happy Independence Day - USA!

Happy Independence Day - USA! 

Dear Friend,

Don't ever take your freedom for granted! Freedom came at a great price! 

If you are in Christ, don't ever take your freedom in Christ for granted either!

Your freedom came at a great price as Jesus sacrificed it all so you can have salvation and freedom from the bondage and wages of sin! 

Freedom in Christ doesn't have to be renewed each day because he paid for your freedom in full, but, we definitely need to walk in the new life He's given us and again never take His sacrifice for granted! 

God has truly shed His grace upon us! Let's praise His mighty name for His love, goodness, mercy and grace!

Happy 4th of July my friends!

Your Brother and Servant in Christ,

Randolph Koch 

-Founder and Servant-Shepherd of A Shepherd's Heart

Will the Real St. Patrick Please stand up?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Even if you’re not a wee bit Irish, there is a lot we can learn from the life of St. Patrick. There are a lot of legends/myths about Him but it’s good to separate fact from fiction and today I’m posting a few links to articles about his life which you’ll find below. Also, if you ever have an opportunity to watch an hour long docudrama about his life that was narrated by Liam Neeson, I’d highly recommend it. I believe it was simply called, "Patrick". I'm sure you'll be able to locate it via your favorite search engine.

While I agree that St. Patrick's life is one to celebrate and it's OK to have some fun in celebrating, St. Patrick's Day is not about hitting the pubs, shamrocks and the "Luck of the Irish" like many make it. His life was far more significant to the faith community and in the history of Ireland in comparison to these temporal things. 

After a brief glimpse into the life of St. Patrick you'll see some great reminders and examples regarding God's grace. 

One of those lessons I see is that we need to allow God to use and direct our path no matter what the circumstances and no matter if what we're going through makes sense or not. God is more than able to take someone out of slavery, (like Patrick) or any dire situation and use them for His glory in proclaiming His message. 

St. Patrick wasn't even from Ireland but God used him there to bring His message to the Emerald Island and because of this - many came to a saving grace thanks to God!

Here’s a selection of articles for your edification:

http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/ChurchAndMinistry/ChurchHistory/colson_stpatrick.aspx 
http://www.joyfulheart.com/stpatrick/pat.htm
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/news/2004/stpatricks.html

Lastly, I wanted to leave you with an Old Irish Blessing:

"May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back."

"May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields."

"And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand."

                                ~An Old Irish Blessing

Have an excellent day!

Many Blessing in Christ,

rlk

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Our Independence Day!

The Word:
Read: Psalm 146:7, Luke 4:18, John 8:31-32, 34-36

"Our Independence Day" by Randolph Koch

As I have been preparing to celebrate our nation's Independence Day, I started to remember how much we have to be thankful for. Independence didn't come cheap for the USA to become its own nation and many people fought and died to bring us this gift we know a freedom.

We have freedom to worship and attend church wherever we want, or we can choose not to do so. We can have our own Bibles. We can choose (for the most part) what our career will be. We can have our own vehicles. We can have children without government control if we choose to have children. We can have clean water to drink and for the most part we can have 3 meals (that we can choose) a day as well as many other freedoms that are truly unique to the USA. 

The list goes on and on regarding the freedom we have here but we so easily take them for granted!

Think about it for a moment: other countries don't have these freedoms and in some countries you could be killed or imprisoned for just being a follower of Christ. These and many other freedoms we tend to take for granted. 

We should remember to thank God for these things. We truly live in a land of much independence, beginning way back at the birth of this nation.

The fourth of July is a great time of celebration for the USA. But let us not forget the greatest Independence Day of all time that we can all celebrate no matter what country we call home. I'm talking about the day that we came to know salvation through Jesus Christ! On that day, Jesus set us free from the chains of our sin when He died for us, taking the penalty for our sin and making it His. We were slaves to our sin and through His power He has given us independence from our old sinful ways. We are no longer enslaved by our sin and will spend eternity with Him!!

Praise God that now as believer's we can truly celebrate, every day, our own Independence Day!

Thanks be to our God for loving us so much! We’ve now moved from dependence on sin and our old life to independence from sin and dependence on Him!!!

Questions To Get Started With:
-Have you experienced your own Independence Day?
-Are you thankful for the many blessings, freedoms and privileges you have?
-Are you living the way you were before you came to know Christ or is your life new or growing? Is there evidence of your own Independence Day?
-Are you secure in your walk with God knowing that the Lord has truly set you free?

 Application Idea:
-Consider making a list of the blessings, freedoms and privileges you have.
-Thank God for these things and seek to never take them for granted!

Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

In Him,

rlk

For Freedom, Christ Has Set Us Free!

Had to share this encouragement with you! 

For Freedom, Christ Has Set Us Free! 

Check out this brief Scripture Video: 


For Freedom, Christ Has Set Us Free from Harvest Bible Chapel 1 on Vimeo.

Blessings and love in Christ,

rlk